Xplor More: Can O' Possums

Virginia opossums are marsupials (mar-soo-pee-uhlz), like kangaroos and koalas. Mama marsupials raise their babies in a pouch. When the babies grow too large to fit inside comfortably, they ride on mom’s back while she wanders around. Opossums have “thumbs,” which they use to grip branches while climbing. They also curl their tails around limbs for balance, but they can’t hang by their tails — at least not for long.

Instructions

This two-player game requires cutting out and assembling game pieces (including two mama opossums and sixteen baby opossums). Each player uses their mama opossum game piece to hook the baby opossums, forming a chain. The baby opossums are worth one point, two points, or negative one point, depending on if they’re alive, playing dead, or actually dead. The first player to 10 points wins.  

Here’s What You Need

• A piece of heavy paper the same size as Page 19
• Scissors
• Pipe cleaners (Pink is perfect!)
• Glue and tape

Prepare to Play

1.  Glue heavy paper to the back of Page 19.

2.  Once the glue dries, cut out each opossum along the dotted lines.

3.  Snip pipe cleaners into 6-inch lengths. You’ll need 18.

4.  Bend the pipe cleaners into an “S.”

5.  Tape a pipe cleaner onto the back of each opossum so that one end of the pipe cleaner becomes the opossum’s “tail,” and the other end becomes the opossum’s “arm.”

Rules

• This game is for two players. If you have more who want to play, take turns.
• Each player picks a mama opossum (they’re the big ones). Dump all of the smaller opossums (the babies) in a pile.
• Decide which player will go first. Using only one hand, the first player tries to hook the mama opossum’s tail onto the arm or tail of one of the babies in the pile.
• Continue making a chain of opossums until one or more fall off of the chain. At that point, it’s the second player’s turn.
• Each baby opossum in the chain is worth one point except:
• Any baby with its tongue hanging out and its eyes open is pretending to be dead (“playing possum”). For each one of these in your chain, add two points.
• Any baby with its tongue hanging out and its eyes Xed out is actually dead. (Nature is tough sometimes!) For each one of these in your chain, subtract one point.
• The first player to make a chain with 10 points wins. If the pile runs out of opossums before anyone reaches 10, the player with the most points wins.